11 years
As any hostel owner I sympathize with the plight of negative reviews... It's really damaging tobusiness when one person apparently thought your place was the 7th circle of hell and decided to let the world know. However it's part of the game and I don't advocate removing them.
However, I don't know the full story here. It's possible that the guest is telling the truth, it's also possible that the guest is a scam artist... Asking for $500 as compensation is a bit fishy. A free night is reasonable but asking for a cash bonus is a little suspicious.
I had a guest at my hostel who basically did the same thing... He claimed bed bugs and he was all prepared with 2 bed bugs, photos of his bites, etc. and he aggressively pursued compensation to the point of maintaining emailing and sending letters after he had left, he also claimed strange things like he was going to write to politicians and that he knew the mayor of our city. But we checked his room (a private room) and did not find any evidence of bed bugs. Nowhere else in the hostel did we have bed bugs. We rented out his room the next night and had no complaints...There was never another problem. Anybody who has dealt with bed bugs knows they don't just disappear like that. I am sure it was a scam.
It's pretty simple... Obtain a few bed bugs and keep them in a jar. Fake the bites somehow... The best way would be to photograph your fake bites (or even let your bed bugs bite you) and show this to hotel staff instead of your actual body. Then bang, you get free accommodation and whatever else once you complained. Easy, except you have to be a sociopath!
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